A Bleach Carol
by Hanyou Hitokiri
Summary: December is ending and Hitsugaya is much grumpier than usual over the Karakura Town battle outcome. With four visitations, might this be his opportunity to make things right and give Soul Society the chance it needs to win the war?
1. The Beginning and a Notice

I can't express how happy I am about this. It's ridiculous. I've always wanted to do some sort of holiday fic, but never got the right idea. Until…what was in front of my face the whole time finally got tired of me staring blankly and slapped me in the face.

So, without further ado, A Bleach Carol. Enjoy and a very Merry Christmas!

I do not own Bleach, which belongs to Tite Kubo, nor do I own A Christmas Carol, which belongs to good ol' Charles. …Right? O.o Well it just ain't mine.

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The Beginning, and a Notice

No one was dead. Yet. The Winter War had only one major battle so far that ended in a stalemate. When Aizen pulled back from his assault on the false Karakura Town, he hadn't returned. From the reports of those inside Hueco Mundo, Aizen's little escapade had left half of Las Noches demolished, the Hougyoku nearly retrieved, and Inoue Orihime safely rescued. Kenpachi, Unohana, Byakuya, and the others all returned once Aizen reopened the Garganta in the rush to salvage his palace. Wounds were healed. Seireitei waited.

The tense atmosphere made for a quiet birthday for the young captain as it passed. Hinamori still brought him a small gift, but the vice captain didn't stay long. A string of captain's meetings left the present unwrapped in the top drawer of Hitsugaya's desk, forgotten as important matters of state finally began to rise once again. A date was set as an approximate time when the Hougyoku would fully awaken after having withdrawn its powers during the demolition fight between Kurosaki Ichigo and the Fourth Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer. That date was sometime between January first through the forth. The rest of December appeared uneventful and bland; not a problem for the Tenth Division captain as he sat day after day at his desk, hardly taking visitors unless they were on official business, and then traveling to the training fields and practicing until his body was numb. When Matsumoto slowly began appearing back at the office from her prolonged stay in the Fourth Division, he had little toleration for her antics, and altogether dismissed the sudden idea of an approaching holiday. Something about gift-giving, that it was a tradition in the transient world. Nonsense. Hitsugaya didn't want any part of it; only to prepare for the upcoming confrontation when the Hougyoku woke. Not even Hinamori, when she expressed her interest in the holiday, could convince Toushirou otherwise.

As he packed up a stack of papers, the clock striking three on the dot, Matsumoto glanced up with a shiver. "Taichou, could you turn down the intensity a bit?" she asked. "You're making the room cold."

"Don't you have that scarf?" he replied offhandedly.

Raising an eyebrow, Matsumoto glanced at the small line of pink fabric running up her shoulder. "Oh!" she exclaimed, waving the end of the scarf around in mock celebration. "Hadn't thought of that! So smart, taichou!"

Hitsugaya flashed a glare. "Being annoying isn't going to help your cause, just like pouting and getting angry didn't."

Momo knocked, opening the door before either moved to get it. "Hitsugaya-tai—ah! Rangiku-chan, it's colder in here than it is outside!"

The strawberry blond pointed a finger in Toushirou's general direction. "Blame that one."

"What's wrong, Shiro-chan?" Momo asked, worried.

"Nothing," the boy captain growled, shoving his drawer shut. "I'm going to the training fields. Unless Aizen's attacking, don't bother me." He turned around quickly, and caught Matsumoto as she replaced her tongue inside her mouth, smiling sweetly. Hinamori giggled slightly.

"Aye, mon capitan!" Matsumoto faked a salute. Hitsugaya and Hinamori both gave her a look. "It's French," the buxom woman shrugged.

French, Momo mouthed quietly, confused as Toushirou scoffed. "Hitsugaya-taichou!" she called as he neared the doorway. "Before you leave, I, uh, got these from the Sixth Division this morning. It's being passed around to all the captains, and I think you're the last one to get it. Yamamoto-soutaichou wants it back tomorrow morning."

Toushirou kept his groan in check, but scowled all the more deeper. "Fine. I'll do it later."

The small dark-haired woman sighed, setting the previously outstretched papers on the corner of his paper-heavy desk, and halted his exit once more, this time much more nervously. Matsumoto had put her brush down, crossed her arms, and sat back to watch, an expectant look on her face.

"I know you already disagreed with us, but tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and it's not like it's an actual tradition here. I mean, I didn't know about it before Rangiku brought it up. But it really sounds like fun."

"You're still stuck on this, huh?" he sighed, almost sounding like he pitied the two of them. "I already said no. Many times if I remember right. We don't have time for nonsense when there are more important things to be getting ready for. You would think that the two of you would want to work on not getting beaten so badly again, but instead you're just wasting time." Toushirou turned his back on his vice captain's hard stare and Hinamori's downtrodden expression. "I suggest you use the little time we have left building your strength, otherwise I might refuse you both from entering the battlefield."

(())

It was dark and very cold when Hitsugaya returned to his quiet office and lit a single candle on the desk. He rested his eyes for a moment after having them cross with exhaustion by the second sentence of instruction on the documents Hinamori had left. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, but he started from his doze a few minutes later. Rubbing his eyes, Toushirou let loose a broad yawn that turned into a yelp as a thunderous crash dislodged the two legs he'd been leaning back on out from under him. He landed unceremoniously on the floor. Growling, he peeled himself up and situated his haori correctly.

"Probably a storm," he muttered to himself, sitting down and glancing at the looming form in front of him. The document seemed boring enough, so maybe the sudden noises would keep him awake…

Toushirou looked up, frowning.

Nothing was there.

Lightning, then, playing tricks on the wall.

Again he tried to read, taking the first sentence in like his life depended on it, but by the time he started the third Toushirou found himself lying across his desk, the papers smudged a bit from his open, drooling mouth.

"More tired than I thought," he grumbled, finding something to wipe the paper off with. A large shadow passed as he had his head stuck inside a drawer, digging for a cloth. Toushirou peeked over the top of the desk.

Nothing.

When he couldn't find anything he used the corner of his haori and settled once more, determined to get this over with so he could properly go to bed.

When he woke the third time he cursed himself, the papers, and Yamamoto twice over for assigning it in the first place.

"I'll just get up earlier," he relented, shuffling then stacking the documents neatly.

"Aren't you worn out enough as it is?"

Hitsugaya jumped, hand reaching for Hyourinmaru only to blink and stare at the materialized form of his zanpaktou.

"I'm not necessarily getting adequate rest either, you know," the ice dragon said, brilliant red eyes boring into Hitsugaya's.

"I didn't summon you," the boy noted.

"Really?" the dragon snorted.

"What do you want? If you're tired then let me leave so I can go to bed. Or just go to sleep yourself. We aren't practicing anymore."

Hyourinmaru shifted, and the chime of ice filled the office. "I cannot."

"Why not?"

"Let's just say that at least I won't be the only one."

"What are you talking about?"

"What's with all the questions?" the dragon opened his jaws, his annoyance clear. "Just be quiet and listen. You're normally good at that. We could sit for hours and just _listen_. All of your jabbering is getting old, Toushirou. Can you imagine how much a voice carries over a plain of ice?"

Hitsugaya was shaking his head. "I'm not talking any more than I always do."

Hyourinmaru roared. "Naive boy! I'm surprised they allowed you to become captain! Keeping your mouth shut is a good idea." Toushirou glowered, but let his zanpaktou spirit continue. "As a part of your soul, I can hear what your ears hear and also what your heart speaks. You're in much turmoil, Toushirou, and you've become very loud. You've taken the wind and snow from my fields and are using it here instead. I like the wind and snow," Hyourinmaru pointed. "Bring it back."

"How am I supposed to do that?" the boy asked, frustrated at hearing his own weaknesses. "I can't help but want to win this fight, no matter what it costs."

"Winning is fine, but the price you're already trying to pay is more than necessary. You'll regret following this path, Toushirou."

"I will by not following it sooner! That's all I regret right now."

"And that," the dragon sighed, lying his massive head down, "is the problem. I said that tonight you wouldn't get your rest, and I didn't lie. You'll be visited by three ghosts—"

The tired Hitsugaya burst into a sarcastic laughing fit. "I meet ghosts all the time. I'm one. You are too, if you haven't noticed."

Hyourinmaru lifted his head and blew a blast of cold air in Toushirou's face, knocking the captain over onto the couch.

"Listen! You'll be visited by three ghosts! Three ghosts you've never seen the likes of before, if that makes it any better for you! Expect the first at one, the second at two, and the last at three. I hope you pay better attention to what they have to say than you did with me." With a last snort, Hyourinmaru vanished, leaving Hitsugaya alone and on his back, wondering just what the obstinate dragon meant.


	2. The First Spirit

Bleach isn't mine.

(((())))

The First Spirit

Or

Whose Past is This Anyway?

In light of Hyourinmaru's strange appearance, Hitsugaya decided it best to just stay in the office and sleep on the couch. He hadn't felt his zanpaktou shift when it materialized, and so blamed the insanity on lack of sleep and quite possibly those cookies he ate after lunch that Hinamori made. The girl had a long way to go before her cooking skills could impress anyone.

Still, what his zanpaktou said bothered the small captain. He looked at the clock. It read a minute and a half until one in the morning. Hitsugaya chuckled, rolling over.

Stupid dragon spirit.

The clock chimed. Loudly.

His clock did not chime.

Toushirou sat up, peering warily at the ticking face.

Nothing happened. Two minutes past, and nothing still.

Sitting back, hands behind his head, Toushirou had the sudden urge to kick his sword over from where it rested snuggly against the couch cushion.

The sound of someone tripping and falling shot the nerves of the captain, but he didn't bother raising his head to yell, "Get out!"

He heard breathing.

"I said get out. I'm not working right now."

The breathing stopped but the tiptoeing started.

Hitsugaya lunged for Hyourinmaru, drawing half the blade while he whirled to his opponent, slamming face first into a hard forehead.

"Ah!" the female voice shrieked. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

Toushirou held his aching head, swearing he saw mini dragons swirling about, laughing uproariously at him.

"I have a hard head," she further explained.

When he removed his hands, a bright yellow light was enveloping the room, but it dimmed, revealing the source.

"Inoue?" he asked.

She blinked. "Who?"

Toushirou shook his head. Without the cobwebs he clearly noted the girl's golden eyes and the orange glow around her extremely long hair. It certainly resembled Orihime. "Never mind," he said cautiously. "You look like someone I know."

"Not surprising," she giggled with the same voice.

"Were you the one who tripped?"

She looked to the floor, embarrassed. "Yes. My pant legs are so long, just like my sleeves. It makes it difficult to walk and grab things." She twirled her pure white robes, the broad sleeves creating an odd fan shape.

"Well," Toushirou asked grumpily, "what do you want?"

"Hm? Oh! Right!" She stuck her arms out wide with a smile nearly reaching past her fingertips. "I am the first ghost! Here to show you things that have been. Things that can never be changed. Things that have already happened—"

"I get it," he deadpanned, getting to his feet. "You don't have some picture book, do you?"

"A what?"

"Never mind." He glared sharply at her. "This doesn't have anything to do with that holiday Matsumoto and Hinamori were pushing, does it?"

"Christmas?" the ghost put a finger to her mouth, thinking. "Actually, yes. It's special, and the only time my kind can be out and about. But we don't have much time! We have to go!"

"You're the one who got here late."

The spirit touched the pair of royal blue barrettes on either side of her head and streaks of light flashed out. "Whatever you do, don't leave the circle, ok?"

"Fine," the captain grumped, glaring as his office slowly vanished and a desert appeared.

The spirit screamed, "Ow!" as one of the lights tugged a lock of her hair.

"Why did you bring him here, woman!" it said harshly.

"I had to!" the Orihime imitation half sobbed.

Toushirou was wondering the same thing. He figured he'd be standing in front of Granny's house, seeing himself as a much shorter boy with a lively pigtailed Momo at his side. Not some desert in a part of Rukongai he'd never seen before. He boredly scanned the area twice before noticing the small human shape lying in the dirt. A quick shunpo had him beside the frighteningly thin little girl.

"Hey!" he called to the bickering spirits. "Hey! She needs help." When the spirit only stared, Hitsugaya growled, digging around in his pockets for the wrapped cookies, reaching to place a hand on the girl's neck for a pulse. It passed right through her.

"They can't see or hear you," the spirit explained sadly, kneeling beside the girl as well, but looking Toushirou in the eye. "It's only shadows. This already happened, remember?"

"So I have to sit here and watch this child die?" Hitsugaya stood, pacing a couple steps, and glaring back at the spirit. But the child's blank, grey eyes caught his attention. He frowned, stepping closer.

"What is it?" the spirit asked in a tone of understanding.

Toushirou squatted by the girl, studying the facial features hard. "M-Matsumoto?"

The spirit clapped, turning to her hovering companions. "Oh, he got it!"

"Woo," one of them mocked.

"When is this?" Toushirou asked. "When did this happen? She can't die."

Orihime placed a hand on his arm, urging him away. "Watch."

He was ready to protest when a thin shadow fell through him; Toushirou leapt across the prone body of Rangiku, turning at once, eyes blowing wide. The gangly form of an equally young Ichimaru Gin, arms loaded with some form of dried fruit, studied Rangiku with those slit eyes that Toushirou had grown to mistrust and nearly hate.

"Why are you showing me this? Is it some kind of sympathy ploy? The man's a traitor, always has been. Some random act of kindness isn't going to change my opinion of him."

"But," the ghostly Orihime protested, "if he didn't stop then you wouldn't have your vice captain, would you?"

Toushirou crossed his arms, glaring as the shadow of Gin pressed a fruit to Rangiku's mouth. Only then did she move and her shallow breathing deepen.

"This is ridiculous, and it doesn't change a thing."

The spirit nodded her head relentingly, touching her fingers to the barrettes. "Alright."

The scene changed, swirling into a dark night on the outskirts of Seireitei. The form of a Hallow screamed into the sky, attacking a number of shinigami. Toushirou automatically went for his empty back. He'd left Hyourinmaru.

"You can't help them anyway," the spirit sighed, reaching out and tapping the captain on the forehead. "Remember?"

Before his eyes, one of the shinigami burst into flames of reiatsu, howling inhumanly as a cracking, tearing sound extended their body into a Hallow's mold. "What the—" Toushirou paled, the force of a likes he'd never felt before crowding the air. Aizen, donning a vice captain's scarf on his arm, slinked from the shadows, an all-too familiar smile plastered to his mouth and completely missing from his eyes. Gin, in shinigami uniform and no older than they had just seen, trailed behind.

The scene began to change once more.

"Wait! Wait, I don't know what's going on!" Toushirou called.

Orihime shook her head, touching the barrettes softly, closing her golden eyes.

Scenes began flashing in from of Toushirou like a reel.

Aizen sitting at a desk with a stack of books surrounding him while in the same instant a blond man walked the streets in front of the Fifth Division with Aizen at his heels.

Gin with his trademark smile as Aizen gazed down at him with a deep, threatening frown. "She kinda needs me, I think," young Gin was saying with a shrug. "So I go feed her once in a while. That's all."

Ichimaru again, but standing in the door of a worn hut, door open to the snow as he gazed back at the sleeping child Rangiku, and says, "Sorry, Ran." But she soon woke, looked around, and bowed her head when he wasn't there. Gin showed once more, older, unsmiling, sorrowful almost, as he turned to face Matsumoto's shocked, disbelieving face. "Sorry."

A scene from the Karakura Town battle, one Toushirou didn't witness, of Aizen, as the Garganta ripped open, turning a furious glance on his silver-haired companion as Gin stared back at the ground, a pensive, worried draw between his brows. Aizen was bleeding out from a side wound, and Shinsou was smothered in blood at the tip. Gin glanced at Aizen, meeting the glare, and smiled. The Garganta closed.

Toushirou closed his eyes. "What's this got to do with anything?"

"Everything," Orihime chirped as the shifting winds died. "Just watch. And remember."

Before them, a younger Ukitake was concentrating, holding his zanpaktou firmly in a two-handed grip. Sweat dripped from his brow, and Shunsui was silently watching from the side, equally tired.

"Give it up, Shiro," the dark-haired man slurred, falling on his back, gripping his own zanpaktou. "We're done for the day."

Juushirou wiped his face with a black sleeve, shaking his head.

"You'll hurt yourself. Then I'll have to have a drink so I don't worry."

Ukitake snorted, trying not to laugh. "You'll have a drink either way, Shunsui. Whatever I do doesn't make a difference."

"I'm glad someone knows me so well."

With a shout, Juushirou lunged at an invisible enemy and sudden his zanpaktou sparked with electricity. He yelled, dropping it. His hands were wet, his sleeves soaked. Shunsui whistled long and low, walking to glance at the zanpaktou. "I think you got something there."

"E—electricity and _water_? What kind of mix is that?"

"A deadly one," Shunsui grunted, picking up the sword gingerly.

"I think we're done for the day."

They faded as Shunsui nodded.

Toushirou saw himself next, his back to Matsumoto and Hinamori.

"W-what? This happened a few hours ago!"

"It's still the past, and something that can't be undone," Orihime explained sadly as the shadow of Hitsugaya left, leaving a dismayed Momo and irritated Rangiku behind.

"What a bundle of joy," Rangiku growled, glancing at the younger woman close to tears. "Don't let him get to you so much," she tried to sooth. "He's really stressed right now. We all are."

"Still…I can't help but feel like some of it is my fault."

"Now that's ridiculous," Rangiku chided lightly. Toushirou, as he watched, narrowed his eyes. "He's a grump because he wants to be."

"Not that," Momo said softly. "But…but he's right. I shouldn't be in this next battle. I barely helped in the last one."

Rangiku scoffed. "You saved me. Isn't that something? That wasn't an easy kidou mixture to pull."

"It didn't work."

"Even Shuuhei had a hard time fighting them."

"And," Momo exclaimed. "Not just that, but I don't understand why I'm having such a hard time letting go. Letting Aizen-tai…letting Aizen go. I've seen what he's done, but for some reason," she wrapped her arms about her stomach, "I just can't believe it. And I know that makes Hitsugaya-taichou angry, I know it does. I just can't help it."

"Take me back," the captain growled at the spirit. "Take me back now. If this is true, it's insane. Completely insane. It's not her fault; none of it is."

"Let her realize that in time," the spirit said calmly. "Otherwise she might break."

"How would you know? You only know the past, not the future."

"That's true. So maybe you should ask the right ghost, hm? But, the future is tied with the past and the present. You can't have one without the others!"

"So cryptic," Toushirou grumbled, tucking his arms in his sleeves as he rolled a shoulder. "What's next?"

The only thing that responded was footsteps. His eyes flew open. He wasn't in his office; he was in the middle of a transient world city under a chilly winter sky.

The spirit was gone.

He was alone.

"Great."


	3. The Second Spirit

Bleach is not mine.

(((())))

The Second Spirit: A Matter of Confusion

Toushirou was about to start wandering the city, which was Karakura Town if he recalled correctly, when a familiar chuckle halted him. He glanced around, finding nothing but the small trickle of people in the early morning. A dusty snow was falling.

"Good morning, Toushirou," Ukitake's voice boomed. The boy flinched, knowing that tone always followed with a wave of candies. But there was no candy, not even the right Thirteenth captain either. The second spirit stood at the far street intersection, smiling broadly, calling the boy forward. "Come on. We've plenty to do without you dawdling."

This version of Ukitake was much taller, and his smile glittered in the orange eyes. The glow about his head was a shine directly from his golden hued locks that only fell to his shoulders. The Ukitake spirit immediately placed an arm around Hitsugaya's shoulders "Let's get right down to business, shall we?" the spirit said. "I'm here to show you this present holiday, the one you've wanted to ignore: Christmas. You do know we're here only around this time of year?"

"Yes. I hope your argument is better than the last one," Toushirou replied blandly. "If you're trying to convince me of something, I'd like to know what it is so I can see if what I've seen actually helps."

"That's the future. I can't explain that to you. I've no business except for the now." With a wave of his white-clad arm, they were standing in the midst of a chaotic Kurosaki household, decorated rather heavily for the holiday in greens, reds, and lights. A small but lively tree stood in the corner with a good number of wrapped gifts scattered around the tree's base.

"Alright!" Kurosaki Isshin announced, driving an elbow home into Ichigo's side. Or trying to at least. The boy dodged lazily, tripping his father along the way. Behind him, Rukia expertly got out of the stumbling man's way, and moved past to settle beside Ichigo on the floor. She appeared very eager to watch the transient world festivities.

"Hurry up, old man," Karin deadpanned. "Yuzu's almost done with the cookies."

"Here they are!" the young girl called, holding a steaming plate of tree and snowman shaped sugar cookies, a foreign recipe their mother had found online years before.

"Good!" Isshin called, falling to a spot on the floor, creating an awkward circle of family members. "Now we can begin! Ichigo! You pass the presents around!"

"I did it last year," the teen yawned.

"I will!" Rukia's hand shot into the air.

"Excellent! What a good way to have her spend her first Christmas here," he said. Yuzu agreed quickly.

As Hitsugaya watched the family open gifts, laugh, and devour those cookies that looked very similar to the ones Hinamori had given him, his face slowly lost its scowl.

Ukitake smiled, but said nothing.

Finally the spirit draped his arm over Toushirou's shoulder. "Wait a minute," the captain protested as they walked from the household.

"There are other things to see." And he waved his arm.

"Now," Orihime was saying, "I didn't have anything small enough, so I got bottle caps. I hope they aren't too big."

Her fairies were all standing on the girl's table, some giggling with glee, others just smiling as Orihime passed out various assorted caps filled with cider.

"My brother and I used to drink apple cider every Christmas, so I thought it'd be a good idea to share some with all of you!"

"It's good!" one of the females chirped, and the others assented, though many had to carefully hold their makeshift cups in their arms to keep it steady.

"Not bad, woman," a gruff looking male said, downing his cap quickly, holding it out for more.

Orihime giggled when a knock resounded through the apartment.

"Orihime!" Rukia's voice hollered through the door. "We brought presents!"

"Isn't this nice?" Ukitake said, walking through the three friends as Rukia and Ichigo entered Orihime's apartment, the girls babbling freely. "It's so wonderful, the looks on people's faces on this day."

A knock at the door brought Ishida, the towering Chad, and a dark-haired girl Hitsugaya didn't recognize. The noise level tripled.

"So, this is it, then? It's important enough to have the day off, huh?"

"Even more so in other countries," the spirit agreed. "We live wherever the celebration does, no matter the reason behind it. In fact, if it wasn't for those two vice captains then we wouldn't have been able to show you any of this at all. I think that returning the favor wouldn't be so hard." Ukitake smiled, and waved his arm once again.

"Oh!" Rangiku squealed, clapping for all like a child, peering down into the box she had just opened.

"You like it?" Momo asked as Kira leaned over Renji's shoulder to get a better look.

"Like it? I love it!" Rangiku placed a small, delicate figurine of a cat curling in slumber on her palm. "It's so cute!"

While Rangiku showed her gift off to Kira and Shuuhei, Momo pulled Renji's sleeve. "Thank you for having Rukia find that."

"No problem. Anytime. I'll make sure Rukia gets the message."

Momo nodded, and set about watching Shuuhei open his equally small box from Kira.

Toushirou glanced at Ukitake. "There aren't as many gifts as the Kurosakis had."

"Well, they don't really know that it's not such a formal affair, do they?" Ukitake chuckled.

When the simple gifts were all unwrapped, everyone but Momo left.

"I got something for Hitsugaya-taichou as well," she confessed. "I hope he won't get fussy again."

"Mm, we'll see." Rangiku absently stroked the head of the porcelain Siamese cat. "Which reminds me," she got up and retrieved another box. "A merry Christmas to me! Do you want one?"

"What is it?"

"Dried persimmons. I love them, but I only get them as special treats nowadays. Plus they're kind of expensive. I need to find a tree around here or something."

"It was very different," Toushirou noted offhandedly with a frown. "And I wouldn't have minded them in the office for a while."

"They obviously didn't know that, did they?"

Toushirou glared at Ukitake. "I guess not."

"Hm. It does leave much to wonder, doesn't it? Maybe it's the way you've treated them recently. That speech you gave probably set their minds straight."

"Very funny. If they can't fight then they shouldn't," he said factually. "They don't understand that I don't want then getting hurt again."

"Maybe if the ice melted a little they could see concern instead of malice."

"Are you done yet?" Hitsugaya snapped. "Don't you have someone else you have to go bother?"

Ukitake shook his head. "This is important, Toushirou. I wouldn't place a time limit on this information."

"Where's a clock?" the captain growled. "I was told you had a time limit. The first at one, the second at two, and the third at three. So we have an hour."

"My, its no wonder your vice captain needs to escape once in a while," Ukitake laughed, waving his arm across the smiling faces of the two most important women in Hitsugaya's life. Even if he'd never willingly admit it.

The scene changed drastically. Only through detailed description could Toushirou identify the desert sands as Hueco Mundo.

Ukitake's smile was gone, and he appeared very apprehensive about approaching the white, wounded castle grounds, but he would not have brought the captain here if there wasn't something of seemingly great importance. "You'll have to forgive me," the spirit said weakly, "but I can't stay here long. I will show you what I must, but nothing else. I know you would appreciate the chance, but I can't give it to you."

Toushirou was all too eager to enter Las Noches. The information he could gather would be priceless. But the dull look in Ukitake's orange eyes and the lackluster of his golden hair told what the spirit could not: he was clearly dying from the suffocating absence of any holiday merrymaking. So the captain nodded, hoping whatever the spirit had to show was well worth the precious little time they had.

A blink, and they were standing in the middle of blackness that made Toushirou jump. His hand before his face was invisible. A dripping noise came from somewhere. The spirit couldn't even shine. Or wasn't there. Ukitake didn't answer when Toushirou called.

He took a cautious step and a light suddenly glared into his face. Silhouettes entered, footfalls echoing in the silence. Toushirou quickly moved toward the door, glad for the escape, and came face-to-face with a while-clad, hard-faced Aizen Sousuke.

"Aizen!" he spat, reaching toward his empty back. The traitor passed through him. Toushirou turned around, and paled.

"It seems you're of more use to me dead," Aizen said coldly, not even with his sick form of mocking humor.

Between the Arrancar and Aizen, Toushirou only caught a glimpse of silver hair and a half smirk amongst the bindings and chains as an unfamiliar, artificially reiatsu exploded, flooding the castle with its power.

And then it was gone.

"No!" Toushirou whirled, facing the streets of Rukongai and empty air. "No! What's going on?"

"Christmas day," Ukitake explained softly.

"Ch-Christmas? Day?" Toushirou clenched his fists. "Today wasn't even the eve of it yet! This isn't now, this is the future!"

"A close future, I will admit," Ukitake sat on a fence, winded. "It's unbelievably difficult for me to be here so soon. But the circumstances were to drastic to let them continue without intervention." Ukitake's gold hair faded to a dull sheen, and his eyes were dark and lifeless when he opened them. "I must go."

"Why won't any of you explain to me what's going on?" Toushirou raged as Ukitake slowly began to fade.

"There's one more, Toushirou. You've got time to figure it out."

Gritting his teeth, Hitsugaya watched the spirit fade away, and began to pace.

He didn't pace for long until a cloud passed over the setting sun, then another, and another. Soon the whole sky was swiftly smothered in darkening clouds.


	4. The Third Spirit

Bleach isn't mine…still.

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The Third Spirit

A grey misty drizzle fell soon after the sky faded to black, smothering the landscape in darkness. Toushirou could barely see the outline of a large shadow until a quick flash of lightning blazed a trail from behind the towering mountain. From the summit he watched the storm's winds cascade down the mountainside, pressing against the trees in a wide wave, and when it crashed into the valley the chill sent a shiver up his spine. Rain poured in earnest now, soaking him instantly to the bone. Dumbfounded, Hitsugaya stared lamely up at the turbulent skies, wondering if he'd finally returned home when angry energy lit the heavens in scorn and a dark clothed figure silhouetted against the fray.

In that moment, it beckoned him forward.

Mud sucked hungrily at his sandaled feet. Untouched by the elements, his third host waited atop the mountain Toushirou did not recognize. Towering a good head and a half taller than the Ukitake, this ghost was giant and willowed under the tattered black cloak. Nothing of its face could Toushirou see. It always turned or tilted its head to remain hidden.

Toushirou recounted to himself before proclaiming, "You're here to show the future."

It didn't respond but with a slight incline of its hollow-seeming hood.

"Then show me. It'll be good to have some of these fears put to rest. Come on, show me what you've got," the captain demanded impatiently. Out of the three, this was the one with the most important of gifts, the one he knew whatever knowledge gathered from this ghost Hitsugaya could turn right around on Aizen Sousuke when the time came in the new year.

With the outstretching of a long, three-jointed finger, the spirit pointed the way. Toushirou obeyed, arms folded, eyes acute and prepared to soak everything up. "How far up the mountain?" he asked when the climb became steep and crooked, the way hidden beneath crumbling rock and dust. The spirit, having no trouble flowing up the hillside, merely extended the finger again.

Once, when Toushirou was just a shinigami student, he traveled all about the Seireitei and surrounding countryside outside the concrete street, beyond the wall and gates, to become familiar with it. This medium mountain he did not recognize. Not a speck of green grew on it, but here and there a splinter of rotting wood was scattered about. Perhaps then they were in Rukongai, somewhere in the outer districts that he'd never been. At the crest he stopped, finding safe footing for the drop before him was sheer and far. The clouds and sheets of rain made it impossible to see.

"What am I looking for?" Toushirou hollered over the thunderclap when the mute spirit motioned across the dark valley below. He stared incredulously at the hooded figure and it quickly became angry, thrashing the air with its cold-ridden bones of a hand, screeching harshly something close to an irritated chuckle. Toushirou faced the black, frowning, ready to move on to something informative when the lightning struck once, twice, three times, and by each flash the blood drained from his face.

Paler than sickness, Toushirou stumbled backwards, nearly toppling down the hill but a solid wood caught his shoulders and he slid to a seat. Amusement poured like honey from the spirit as he watched either Toushirou or the landscape, the young captain wasn't sure.

The sight of a destroyed Seireitei swallowed his thoughts, and he drowned in horror of the leveled buildings, the smoke-covered fires, the black piles dotting silver streets of stone.

He closed his eyes, opening them as the rain suddenly stopped. Under a single tree left untouched by the violence Toushirou spied a large form across the way sitting beneath an outcrop jutting from the upturned Soukyoku Hill, the mistaken mountain. Slowly he approached, hoping to find a living comrade, a shinigami, but he only found an Arrancar with bright unseeing green eyes fixed on a second person, the corpse of Inoue Orihime. The Espada—Toushirou saw the four tattooed to his bared chest—appeared quite distraught, tangling his fingers in bloody, golden-brown locks beside her ashen face.

A howl of agony rose in the distance.

Long fingers passed over Hitsugaya's transfixed stare, and showed him away from the silent Espada to where the scream had originated. Ichimaru bowed, broken, over Rangiku's body.

Not far away a pink fire glowed dimly, sputtering out. Toushirou stumbled, bleary-eyed, to stand over a slowly dying Momo. Her hand trembled as it reached above her, blackened fingers curling, grasping at emptiness. At, when Toushirou ripped his gaze from her, his own body, dead on the ground, a shattered Hyourinmaru sprinkled about his blood-red face and chest.

Hitsugaya dropped to his knees, stirring the ashes.

"Ichimaru escaped," Tousen's voice echoed through his mind as the traitor slowly appeared, bowing to Aizen. The man's arm was bandaged, but other than that, Sousuke was unharmed and smiling with such glee it made Toushirou sick.

"That doesn't matter. He'll die soon enough with the rest of them. We need to turn our attention to the King and his dimension. The way will have to be opened soon, and we'll be waiting."

"Of course."

They faded away.

Toushirou looked to the hooded spirit, choked by the words he wanted to speak for a long time.

"Can…can this be changed?" he asked softly, repeating himself strongly, willing the hot tears from his eyes. "Isn't there something I can do to change this?"

The spirit knelt and began to write slowly in the layers of dust and dirt. The character 'three' he finished first.

"Well? If I couldn't change it, why show it to me?"

Two.

Standing, he still didn't reach past the ghost's head. "Answer me!"

The spirit pointed to his writing. Three, two, one. Toushirou glanced up into dark, bloody eyes. "What?"

Three, two one.

"That doesn't make sense!" the captain snapped as it rose. "Three, two, one? What is that? What is so important about this holiday? What does it have to do with anything?"

"Why," the spirit said, halting Toushirou's raving as he stared in shock. "Are you asking so many things?"

"Because I don't understand. If I'm supposed to do something about this, why tell me in riddles?"

"You have the answer to this riddle," the spirit's eyes glanced at the numbers. Three, two, one. It looked up, and light wiped over its mouth, showing a wide, frighteningly familiar smirk.

"Three, two, one." Toushirou shook his head. "What's the order? Hours we have left? Days? Days…" he paused. "No. The second spirit. It showed me the Hougyoku waking in the future. Christmas future. Christmas day. The day after tomorrow."

The ghost was silent.

"But how? How are we supposed to plan and attack within one day?"

"Three. Two. One."

"I know! Three, two, one! What does it mean!" Pacing like a caged animal, the captain missed the hood fall back, the red eyes brighten with ill-placed humor, and the smirk spread into a malicious grin.

"I won't spell it for you," the ghost mocked. "But the order of things falls in reverse. Three, two, one."

Hitsugaya, finally paying attention, dropping his jaw as the black-haired form of Ichimaru Gin grinned down at him, peering with those laughing red gems, darker than rubies, brighter than blood.

"You!" Toushirou lunged. "Tell me what he planning!"

"Fool, you've already seen what he has in store for you. I've nothing to do with it. The form of that man I've taken for a purpose, as have my kinsman with their own."

Wildly, Toushirou pressed the spirit for anything to help him with this task. What was to be done? How was it to be done? Each time the spirit answered three, two, one or called him foolish, showing him more corpses of people he knew.

At last, the spirit said, "My time is up." He held up a hand, splaying three fingers, and counting down by one. "Three for the ways. Two for the powers. One for the reverse. Remember that, if you can."

And Toushirou woke. He stared his dragon in the eye as Hyourinmaru rose from his slumber.

"Did you pay attention?" the dragon asked.

"Did you?" the boy retorted.

Hyourinmaru chuckled, and light snow fell from his trembling sides. "I saw as you saw, heard as you heard. What do you make of it?"

"I don't like it," Toushirou growled, getting to his restless feet. "Not an explanation from any one of them."

"What about all three?" the dragon placed his head down curling his long neck around Hitsugaya's desk. He watched his wielder's anxiety rise. "Did each one tell you something important?"

The pacing stopped. Toushirou frowned deeply. "The Orihime showed me glimpses, the Ukitake showed me things, and the Ichimaru…" he trailed, bowing his wildly-haired head. "How does this celebration tie in with Aizen winning, with the 'three, two, one' reversed order. They way, the power, and the reverse. Three, two, one… Way, power, reverse…"

Hyourinmaru opened an eye. "Do you have something?"

"In Las Noches…I know where Ichimaru's being held. The Hougyoku. That was kept inside a rotating machine, wasn't it?" The dragon nodded, recalling from the reports something like that. "The only way to get rid of it would be to…to erase it from existence, but Urahara already tried."

"He failed to destroy it, yes. But maybe there's another way."

Toushirou's eyes lit up, and he all but leapt into the air, a sudden swell in his chest of hope. Wide-eyed, he stared open-mouthed at the dragon until Hyourinmaru shifted. "What?" But the dragon was not upset. Toushirou's thoughts flashed through the dragon's vision, and the overwhelming sensation of joyous realization caused the room to become cold. "Hold you excitement; you're not sure if this'll work." Ever the one to keep his head on straight, Hyourinmaru did however enjoy the childlike emotion exploding from his wielder. "Will you speak with them?"

"Yes!" Toushirou scooped his zanpaktou up, dashing for the First Division through the slowly abating snow. He pounded on the doors, hollering enough that a light in the nearby Second Division lit. When the gate-doors opened, Toushirou rushed inside, dropping to his fours as the Head Captain rounded a far corner, slightly disheveled. "Forgive me, but we don't have much time! Please call an emergency captain's meeting!"

"At this hour?" the old man lifted his brow.

Toushirou looked him in the eye. "It involves Aizen, the Hougyoku. I have a plan. I know what to do!"

Skeptically, the Head Captain peered at the trembling Tenth, wondering if the hard-working boy had suddenly gone mad. But the determination in his eyes, well, that said another thing. Yamamoto nodded, turning from the gathering division members. "Very well. Call an emergency meeting. We'll hear what you have to say."

Touching his forehead to the ground, Hitsugaya thanked him, rose, and went to wait for his colleagues. Hopefully what he had to say, though a limb in itself, would be well worth the captains'' rising in the dead of night.

"It's just now four AM," Hyourinmaru rumbled in the back of Hitsugaya's mind as the first of the captains arrived.

"Well," Toushirou muttered back, "I'm glad they did it all in time. I'll need plenty of it to convince everyone."

"Mention things carefully," the dragon deadpanned as Byakuya, fully dressed and appearing none the worse for his early rise, and Ukitake both greeted the young captain. "I'd rather they believe you even more a prodigy than a madman."

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Have an awesomely wonderful Christmas!


	5. The End and Another Beginning

Bleach isn't mine.

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The End and Another Beginning

Hitsugaya stood before the ruins of Las Noches quite proudly. Aizen was defeated. The plan he put before the captains seemed so foolhardy but in the end it worked. Had he not vigorously persuaded them, the Hougyoku would have awoke, just as the second spirit said, on Christmas day, leaning Aizen with an unstoppable force to overrun Seireitei in his advancement to the Royal Realm through the destruction of Karakura Town.

As it was, when they arrived in the late hours of Christmas Eve Aizen already had his armies and Hougyoku prepared for its release. While diverting his attention, the real plan began.

Taking Ukitake, the human Orihime, his vice captain, and Hinamori (mostly because he wanted her away from Aizen) Hitsugaya led his team through the dangerous halls of Las Noches, the explosions echoing and rumbling through the structure. Just as he had seen, the cell holding Ichimaru Gin was close to the entrance. Aizen must have badly wanted to lock the man up, not taking the time to give Gin a proper jail cell.

Only slightly beaten, Gin had no trouble holding his own, though Rangiku hovered slightly. They all understood time was of utmost importance, and there was to be no questions asked yet, so they moved on.

Gin knew the exact way to where the Hougyoku was being held. Instead of having such a powerful device out in the open for when the masses rose, Aizen had a conduit to direct the energy release into the room lined with encased Hallow. As Inoue recalled, the ball itself was hidden inside the floor, protected by a code only Aizen himself could reach. But Toushirou had the solution to that.

The room was entirely automated, filled with electrical wiring a weird lighting that pooled to where the device lay in wait under their feet. A frailty, however, as Gin noted, was that the water pipes ran directly under the far corner of the room

That was all Ukitake needed to know. They cleared the room as he released his zanpaktou, using one to call the water forth, flooding the room immediately and, though he didn't need to, using the other blade to intensify the electricity leaping angrily though the offending liquid.

When the water receded Hitsugaya and Ukitake, fending off the spurts of free electricity, then took Orihime into the heart of the room only to find that the floor had not lifted. The Hougyoku was trapped.

Matsumoto called her shikai, the ash easily falling between the thin cracks and slicing the container free from its wires and metal holding. Hinamori then combined kidou to lift the Hougyoku free.

Outside Gin hollered, not having his zanpaktou, to hurry. They'd been found.

Orihime's turn took the longest. She strained, holding the reversing bubble of the Shun Shun Rikka tightly around the protesting device until finally cracks began to appeared and, in a fierce explosion of reiatsu, it vanished as if it had never been created in the first place.

Aizen fell soon afterwards, and what Espada left alive probably escaped during the fray. They'd soon find if any of those were loyal.

"Hitsugaya-taichou," Hinamori called. "They have the Garganta open! We're the last ones."

The small captain glanced up at the moon, hearing his dragon rumble pleasantly, "Nice job. One down, one to go."

"Yeah," he said, looking to where Momo waited for him.

(())

"What is this?" Matsumoto asked, turning the colorful bag over. It crinkled loudly.

"It's a Christmas present. If you don't want it I'll take it back," he grumped good-naturedly.

"Taichou, it's New Years Eve," she laughed. "You're a little late."

"Well then give it back."

"Oh, I couldn't do that!"

"Then open it!" He went and sat at his desk, opened a draw and put a small box in his pocket as Matsumoto Oo'd over her gift.

"Taichou, how'd you know I liked dried persimmons?"

Toushirou gave her a tiny smirk. "Merry Christmas." He poked his head back in the room. "Oh, and find out about this Christmas holiday."

"Alright. Thank you, taichou."

He grunted softly.

The snow this time wasn't from the reiatsu of a crazed little captain and fell peacefully from the sky.

"Get going," Hyourinmaru urged. "I want to see her reaction."

Hitsugaya looked at the pink wrapped box in his palm, smaller than the one Hinamori had given to him on his birthday, which he also had to open with her, but it was something he knew she'd like. It was better late than never, but next time he'd make sure to be on time. After all, he was new to this holiday business but what better people to help him out?

"Ok," Toushirou breathed, smiling for a moment and tucking the gift away and heading for the Fifth Division, hardly able to contain the goofy sense of happiness churning in his stomach. He really couldn't wait to see Momo's face.

**Fin**

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I hope it didn't seem rushed. I wanted each chapter out at a certain time…but yay! XD I might go back and fix some things at some point but it kinda depends on whether…nah, I just need the time. XD

I got two holidays in at once! How's that for a holiday fic? LOL

Happy New Year!


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